Up to 80 Taliban rebels and at least 16 civilians were killed during a coalition air and ground attack on a village in southern Afghanistan, officials and witnesses said.

The US-led coalition said it called in warplanes after troops who were trying to capture insurgents in Kandahar province came under fire, while a governor said some of the militants had hidden in local people's houses.

Bloodied men, women and children who streamed into a nearby hospital using vehicles that withstood the bombing said dozens of civilians died and scores more were wounded.

The air strike came amid some of the worst violence since the 2001 fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Around 300 people have been killed in the past week, about twice the number reported killed in Iraq.